News

One year delay to housing on Britannia site

The first phase housing on the Britannia Leisure Centre site project is being put back a year due to delays associated with planning for Crossrail 2.

The 93 new homes - 81 for Council social rent and shared ownership, and 12 for private sale - are still firmly part of the plans, but are now expected to be built by summer 2022. Construction of the new leisure centre and school is going ahead as planned, with both expected to open in 2021.

In December 2018, the Crossrail 2 team presented the Council with new proposals for the alignment of tunnels under Shoreditch Park which would have meant the affordable homes could not be built as planned. The previous alignment wouldn’t have impacted on the homes, but would have required a permanent vent shaft building on Shoreditch Park. Following discussions, a revised alignment has now been presented which does not affect the new homes nor necesitate a permanent vent shaft on the park. However, reaching this agreement has delayed the process of procuring a contractor, pushing back the housebuilding timeline.

Under the original timeline the most disruptive works were due to take place on the Shoreditch Park Primary School playground during this year’s summer holidays. Now, they would have to start during the autumn term if that timeline was to be maintained, causing significant disruption to the school, so the decision has been taken to push the build programme back to 2020.

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It’s disappointing that these Council-built genuinely affordable homes won’t be ready as soon as we had planned, but I have been lobbying hard to defend Shoreditch Park from being impacted by Crossrail 2 construction and to minimise the disruption to local residents. Delaying these badly needed homes wasn’t an easy decision, but the disruption which would now be caused to Shoreditch Park Primary School if we pushed ahead to try to meet the original timeline would be unacceptable for pupils and teachers.

“The remainder of the project is not affected and the bigger picture is that the much-needed new school and leisure centre - a facility fit for the 21st Century and the diverse needs of Hackney’s communities - are still set to open in 2021 as planned.

Philip Glanville, Mayor of Hackney

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There will be some works undertaken this summer along Gopsall Street, to prepare underground services to the new homes by digging a trench to lay pipework, which will affect the school site, but it is intended that this occurs as much as possible in the summer holiday period.